NRA study suggests trained, armed school staffers WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate gun control debate on the near horizon, a National Rifle Association-sponsored report on Tuesday proposed a program for schools to train selected staffers as armed security officers. The former Republican congressman who headed the study suggested at least one protector with firearms for every school, saying it would speed responses to attacks. The report’s release served as the gun-rights group’s answer to improvi...

Colo suspect fantasized about killing prison staff DENVER (AP) — The ex-convict suspected in the killing of Colorado’s prison chief slipped off his electronic monitoring bracelet before anyone noticed he was missing — all after he was mistakenly released from prison four years early. A corrections computer system recorded that Evan Spencer Ebel’s bracelet stopped working on March 14, according to documents released Tuesday. Officers learned he had fled on March 19, the day Tom Clements was fat...

No let up for auto sales in March; pickups star DETROIT (AP) — America is getting back to work, and it needs pickup trucks. Strong truck demand in March drove U.S. auto sales to their highest monthly total since August 2007, as everyone from oil and gas producers to local home builders raced to replace the aging trucks they held onto during the recession. Overall auto sales rose 3.4 percent to 1.45 million, according to Autodata Corp. “I think day-to-day business is the best it’s been in fi...

Kerry warns NKorea on ’reckless’ provocations WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday warned North Korea to halt a recent spate of rhetoric and actions, calling them provocative, dangerous and reckless. He also vowed that the United States would defend itself and its allies South Korea and Japan from North Korean threats. Kerry’s comments came after North Korea ratcheted up an almost daily string of threats toward the three nations with an announcement that it would rev...

Customers pack Conn. gun stores after deal on laws NEWINGTON, Conn. (AP) — Customers packed gun stores around Connecticut on Tuesday ahead of a vote expected to bring sweeping changes to the state’s gun control laws, including a ban on the sale of large-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown shooting and a new classification for more than 100 types of guns as banned assault weapons. Lawmakers have touted the legislation expected to pass the General Assembly on Wednesda...

UN adopts treaty to regulate global arms trade UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the first international treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade Tuesday, after a more than decade-long campaign to keep weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, warlords, organized crime figures and human rights violators. Loud cheers erupted in the assembly chamber as the electronic board flashed the final vote: 154 in favor, 3 against and 23...

US restraint in Syria could aid Iran nuclear talks WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s reluctance to give military aid to Syrian rebels may be explained, in part, in three words: Iranian nuclear weapons. For the first time in years, the United States has seen a glimmer of hope in persuading Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment program so it cannot quickly or easily make an atomic bomb. Negotiations resume this week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where encouraging talks in February between six wo...

High-skilled visa requests likely to exceed supply WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department expects applications for high-skilled immigration visas to outpace the available supply in a matter of days, one of the fastest runs on the much-sought-after work permits in years and a sign of continued economic recovery amid new hiring by U.S. technology companies. The urgent race for such visas — highly desired by Microsoft, Apple, Google and other leading technology companies — coincides w...

Is home where the profit is? NEW YORK (AP) — J.C. Penney is honing in on its home department as part of a bigger plan to turn its stores into mini-malls of sorts. The struggling department-store chain is unveiling revamped home areas within its stores that feature 20 boutiques that highlight 50 new brands. The areas will include an eclectic mix of items, from $60 Michael Graves’ stainless steel teakettles to $1,850 Jonathan Adler “Happy Chic” sofas. The home areas, which ...

Possible human remains found in new 9/11 debris NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Riches pulled his son’s mangled body out of the rubble at the World Trade Center, but the phone calls still filtered in years afterward. The city kept finding more pieces of his son. “They’ll call you and they’ll tell you, ‘We found a shin bone,”’ Riches said. “Or: ‘We found an arm bone.’ We held them all together and then we put them in the cemetery.” Those are the phone calls both dreaded and hoped for among the families ...

Colorado prosecutors seek execution in theater attack CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — For James Holmes, “justice is death,” prosecutors said Monday in announcing they will seek his execution if he is convicted in the Colorado movie theater attack that killed 12 people. The decision — disclosed in court just days after prosecutors publicly rejected Holmes’ offer to plead guilty if they took the death penalty off the table — elevated the already sensational case to a new level and could cause it to drag o...

Rubio claims pivot point on immigration overhaul WASHINGTON (AP) — Whatever immigration deal might be claimed by labor and business, or by Democrats and Republicans, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is serving notice it has to go through him. The tea party favorite made it clear over the weekend he has a make-or-break role for the most sweeping immigration changes in decades. It’s a high-risk strategy that also puts his presidential ambitions on the line. Four Republican senators are involved wit...

Obama image machine whirs as press access narrows WASHINGTON (AP) — A photo of the Obamas hugging that was released on Election Day 2012 has become the world’s most popular tweet on Twitter. A dressed-up version of Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, packed with charts and graphs, is huge on YouTube. A playful picture of the president cavorting with a 3-year-old in a Spiderman costume is a favorite online. It’s all courtesy of the Obama image machine, serving up a stream of words, image...

Connecticut reaches deal on tough gun laws after Newtown HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers announced a deal Monday on what they called some of the toughest gun laws in the country that were proposed after the December mass shooting in the state, including a ban on new high-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the massacre that left 20 children and six educators dead. The proposal also called for background checks for private gun sales and a new registry for existing magazin...

Column: Other issues in focus as war, economy fade WASHINGTON (AP) — After a dozen years of war and a half-dozen of economic troubles, the United States is beginning to wrestle with a question even more existential than those big events: What does it mean to be an American? Immigration reform and gay marriage. Affirmative action and voting rights. Gun control and, more broadly, the role of government in our lives. Today, the Supreme Court, Congress, the White House and the public all are confr...

High court poised to upend civil rights policies WASHINGTON (AP) — Has the nation lived down its history of racism and should the law become colorblind? Addressing two pivotal legal issues, one on affirmative action and a second on voting rights, a divided Supreme Court is poised to answer those questions. In one case, the issue is whether race preferences in university admissions undermine equal opportunity more than they promote the benefits of racial diversity. Just this past week, justic...

Family grieves 5 relatives dead in Nevada crash LOS ANGELES (AP) — Belen Fernandez didn’t want to go on a weeklong trip to Denver with her husband and his two brothers to visit her ailing father-in-law, but her children eventually persuaded her to go. “She didn’t want to leave her grandkids,” her daughter, Griselda Fernandez, recalled Monday, weeping. “But we all told her, you have to go with my dad. My dad needs your help.” It was the last thing Belen Fernandez would do for her family. The...

Marketing studies help craft health overhaul pitch WASHINGTON (AP) — How do you convince millions of average Americans that one of the most complex and controversial programs devised by government may actually be a good deal for them? With the nation still split over President Barack Obama’s health care law, the administration has turned to the science of mass marketing for help in understanding the lives of uninsured people, hoping to craft winning pitches for a surprisingly varied group in s...

Camry battles spruced-up rivals in midsize market DETROIT (AP) — For nearly two decades, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord have ruled the mid-sized car market. Nobody accused them of being stylish or fast. But the cars rarely broke down, and they held their value better than competitors. For drivers who wanted a family car, Camry and Accord got the job done and were good enough to become two of the best-selling cars of all time. But now the dominance is starting to slip. Cars like the Hyu...

Suspect in Colorado prison chief death got out early DENVER (AP) — A clerical error allowed the man suspected of killing Colorado’s prisons chief to be released from custody about four years early, officials said Monday. In 2008, Evan Spencer Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison guard. In a plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according ...